Biography
On May 13, 1762, a son, Alexei, was born into the family of a clergyman living in Bortsurmany, Simbirsk province. Growing up in an Orthodox family, the young man did not consider it necessary to lead a strict life; sometimes he allowed himself to get carried away by wine.
Righteous Alexy Bortsurmansky
After graduating from the seminary in 1784, the young priest got married and remained to serve in his native village. After 13 years, he was ordained as an elder and remained in the Assumption Church until the end of his life.
Spiritual path
One incident changed the whole life of the Bortsurman priest. A man sent at the request of relatives woke up Father Alexy in the middle of the night and asked him to urgently come to the terminally ill for unction, but the angry priest kicked out the messenger.
He arrived only in the morning, when the sufferer left the earth without unction. Tormented by his conscience, the priest went to the bed of the dead man and saw an Angel next to him with a holy cup in his hands. From that time on, the Church found a faithful servant who spent much time in prayerful worship, kneeling all night.
Important! Father read the Jesus Prayer every night and made 1,500 bows. Father Alexy conducted the service in the church strictly according to the canons, performing the Divine Liturgy daily with the reading of the monastic prayer rule.
During the all-night vigil, 12 psalms and the life of one of the saints, whose day of remembrance fell during the service, were read. Matins was filled with prayers and akathists, and at noon the kathismas of the Psalter were sounded.
The priest had practically no free time; after the service, his house was open to parishioners who came to the priest with their problems and complaints. Mother Maria Borisovna, son Lev and both daughters supported the priest in everything.
Alexy Bortsurmansky, whose life was completely devoted to serving people and God, all the time:
- blessed for spiritual achievement;
- instructed in the faith;
- strictly reprimanded those who turned to sorcerers;
- treated clairvoyants harshly.
Parishioners noted the special meekness of the priest, who secretly helped those affected by natural disasters with material means.
About priests glorified as saints:
- Hieromartyr Seraphim Chichagov
- Hieromartyr Vladimir Epiphany
- Hieromartyr Thaddeus Uspensky
Orthodox Life
A feat in the world is always possible. About a non-monastic monk - Sergei Komarov.
Today the Church celebrates the memory of the transfer of the relics of the holy righteous Alexy Bortsurmansky, a Russian ascetic. His life is quite unusual. The saint was born in 1762, graduated from the Nizhny Novgorod seminary in 1784, married and was ordained a deacon and then a priest in the village of Bortsurmany (then Simbirsk province, now Nizhny Novgorod region). In the first years of his priesthood, Father Alexy was not particularly pious - he served according to his strength, did housework, and loved to drink wine with friends and acquaintances. Apart from his performance of priestly duties, we can say that in all other respects he lived like everyone else - like millions of peasants of that time.
One evening his fellow villagers came to him and asked him to give communion to a dying patient. But the priest was too lazy to walk through the entire village at night. He kicked out the petitioners, saying that nothing would happen to the patient until the morning. However, at night he could not sleep, tossed and turned from side to side, and still decided to go to the sick man. Entering the patient's house, he realized that he was too late - he had already died. Next to him, Father Alexy saw an Angel with a Cup. Shocked by the vision, the priest fell to his knees in front of the dead man, sobbing.
Since then, the life of a priest has changed a lot. He began to serve the Liturgy daily and read the monastic rule for many hours. A list of prayer (or simply spiritually beneficial) texts, read by the repentant priest every day until his death, has been preserved: the Midnight Office, the rite of the twelve psalms and the life of the saint whose memory was celebrated on this day, the teaching from the “Prologue”; morning prayers, hours, akathist to St. Sergius, Great Martyr Barbara or St. Mitrofan. Also during the day, four kathismas from the Psalter were read, and in the evening - a canon and akathist to the Savior, a canon to the Guardian Angel, and prayers for the coming sleep. To all this the ascetic added one and a half thousand bows with the Jesus Prayer.
The saint ate according to strict monastic rules. Having vowed to himself never to be idle, in his free time he worked in the garden or around the house. He donated all his income to the poor, setting aside only a little to feed his family and for the needs of the temple. There were even cases when a righteous person threw money into the house of the poor, like St. Nicholas of Myra. He received everyone who came to him at any time of the day, and spoke to people with extraordinary meekness and affection.
For his intense ascetic life, Father Alexy received many gifts from God: insight, healing, spiritual consolation. Subsequently, he was granted various visions and revelations. Thus, during the Patriotic War of 1812, praying for the victory of Russian weapons, the ascetic saw an Angel, who informed him that the forces of heaven were already rushing to crush the enemy. The righteous man was also honored with a visit from the Savior Himself and His Most Pure Mother.
The holy righteous Alexy spent his last years in a small cell specially built for him in part of his house. Here he intensified his ascetic deeds. He continued to serve the Liturgy almost every day, and prayed most of the day and night. I ate once a day, without even consuming vegetable oil, and during the first and last week of Lent I did not eat anything. He slept on hard felt, wore a hair shirt, and did not wash (water did not touch the old man’s body for the last 30 years of his life). He suffered many demonic attacks and fears. The Monk Seraphim of Sarov himself heard about the holiness of the ascetic, who said about him: “This man with his prayers is like a candle lit before the Throne of God. Here is a worker who, without having monastic vows, stands above many monks. He burns like a star on the Christian horizon.”
With his prayers, Saint Alexy healed a girl who had not walked since birth, and resurrected a boy, his parishioner. The fame of the miracle worker spread throughout the province and attracted many visitors to him, whom the elder considered it his duty to receive. Even weakened by a long, fatal illness, he considered it a sin not to let a person come to him. Having become completely exhausted from illness and the constant reception of visitors, righteous Alexy ended his life’s journey on Maundy Thursday 1848, sitting at the window through which he blessed people with a weak hand. Having given the last blessing, the holy elder quietly died. He was buried in the garden, opposite the altar of the Assumption Church in the village of Bortsurmany.
After the death of the righteous man, many people received healing and grace-filled help by praying at the grave of Elder Alexy. At the beginning of the 20th century, materials were collected for canonization, but revolutionary events prevented it. The glorification of the holy righteous Alexy of Bortsurman took place only in 2000, at the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church. Today, the relics of the miracle worker are in the temple of the village of Bortsurmany, Pilnensky district, Nizhny Novgorod region. Next to the 17th-century temple is the grave of an elder. Many believers come to the relics of the saint, receiving God's help through his prayers.
Photo: environment.org
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In the history of Saint Alexis, it is noteworthy that his feat began with a crime. Through the fault of a negligent priest, a believer died without Christian guidance - this is a serious spiritual crime, for which one could be defrocked. But the priest’s terrible mistake became the starting point for his new life, or rather, his life. Can there be any doubt that Saint Alexy subsequently begged for salvation not only for the sick man who died without communion, but also for himself, as well as for thousands of other people? And the springboard for a dramatic change in life was a tragic and seemingly irreparable incident. Our amazing God is truly able to turn failure into rebellion, loss into gain, loss into gain, death into life.
Similar stories often happen in church life. For example, over several years of altar work in a cemetery church, I saw many cases of sincere conversion of entire families to the faith through the death of a beloved relative. Previously, people lived as they wanted, they did not know Christ and shunned the temple. And suddenly everyone’s beloved youngest son died in a car accident. Shock, shock. They buried their son in the cemetery church and buried him. What's next? The meaning of life is lost, depression, despondency. And so the son appears to his mother in a dream and asks for food. Parents come to the priest and ask how to react to such visions. Of course, the priest says: “The son asks for your prayers. Come to the Liturgy, confess, take communion, remember your son. Stay for the funeral service, we’ll still pray for him.” They come, do everything as told - and it becomes easier for them. Then the son dreams again, says that he is cold, asks to let him get dressed. They go to the priest. He says: “Give the things of the deceased to the poor with a request to pray for their son.” They give it away, and the image of your loved one stops being dreamed of.
Then they come to the temple again. "What's happened? - says the father. “Dreams again?” No - it turns out they just came to church to pray, they feel good here. So they started going and went to church. They themselves have taken the path of salvation, they beg for their son and thank God for everything. And there are hundreds of such cases. If a person cannot wake up on his own, the Lord wakes him up through the blows of fate. But do we always want to understand the meaning of such shocks? As a rule, we grumble, wondering: why do I, the good one, do all this?
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Life presents another important idea: achievement in the world is always possible. Yes, the Russian outback of the 18th century is not at all similar to the modern urban Babylon, in the bustle of which we move around every day. But still: there were also many people around Saint Alexy, but he did not run away from them, but prayerfully served them. Once again we can be convinced: a firm determination to serve God and our neighbors will always find forms of embodiment under any external circumstances. And for this it is not always necessary to go into the desert.
Even if a person lives in the most hellish conditions (and the poet once defined our city life as “the hell of the city”), he will never lose the opportunity to devote his strength to praying to God and helping his brothers. In the 20th century, many ascetics shone with holiness, living in the concrete jungle of Moscow (St. Matrona of Moscow, St. Alexy Mechev), San Francisco (St. John of Shanghai), Tokyo (St. Nicholas of Japan) or other megacities scattered throughout world map. Just as fresh greenery breaks through a crack in the asphalt in the spring, so the Spirit of God gives birth to certain forms of holiness at any time, in any living conditions: in the rural silence of the Nizhny Novgorod region, in the noise of urban pandemonium, among the sounds of incomprehensible speech of the Japanese. During the regime of persecution and during the period of relative freedom in the 17th, 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, there were and are saints who contemplate the world with eyes full of love.
There is God, there are other people, and there is myself. The background of this ternary connection can be the stone bulk of skyscrapers, a rural hut, a prison barracks - anything. But there is a certain quality of communication with God, neighbor and oneself called “holiness”. The life of Alexy Bortsurmansky, as well as the entire New Testament hagiology, shows that the main condition for acquiring this quality is an internal imperative, and not external conditions. God grant that we, who are always complaining about everything and everyone, understand this well.
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May Saint Righteous Alexy, through his prayers, add to us determination, the fruits of repentance and active love for God and neighbors, as well as everything that every Orthodox soul who honors the friends of Christ - the saints of God - wants to pray to him for. Holy righteous Father Alexie, pray to God for us!
Sergey Komarov
Father's amazing abilities
Idleness aroused the priest’s particular indignation when there were no services or reception of parishioners, the priest was seen in the field or working in his own house. As soon as he had a free hour, Father Alexy wove canvas, knitted stockings, and wove bast shoes. Then he distributed all the products to poor people, never taking money for it.
Icon of the Righteous Alexy Bortsurmansky
The Lord, seeing the fidelity and purity of faith, blessed Saint Alexis of Bortsurman with special gifts:
- insight;
- heal with the power of prayer;
- comfort with the word of God;
- see visions and revelations.
The gift of hearing the voices of the saints
Being bedridden during an illness, the Most Holy Theotokos appeared to Alexy with Saint Barbara, accompanied by heavenly singing. Silently, the messengers of Heaven approached the sick man's bed, and he instantly felt healed.
Soon the Savior Himself visited the priest, dressed in the clothes of a king, with the Queen of Heaven, who was accompanied by three virgins, the Great Martyrs Faith, Hope, and Love. The words “This is my only begotten Son” were heard in the air.
All of Russia stood in prayerful worship during the war with the French in 1812. Father Alexy Bortsurmansky during the Liturgy prayed for the speedy granting of victory and saw an Angel walking around the temple. The messenger of God announced that the forces of heaven had already been sent to help the Russian soldiers, and victory was near.
Miracles of healing during the life of Father Alexy
Fighting against the forces of darkness, the righteous priest consoled those in need of help and called on everyone to humility and patience. Through the prayers of Saint Alexis, recognized throughout the region, the mentally ill and possessed by demons who were brought to him received healing. Parishioners were present at the healing of a girl who had been unable to walk since birth.
- Residents of the city of Kurmysh witnessed the healing of the fisherman, Luka Shulaev. While fishing, he drove a hook into his hand, which caused inflammation and suppuration. Having reached the last, the fisherman turned to the doctor, but he was powerless to help, announcing that the patient had arrived too late.
Frightened and confused, Luke ran to the elder and asked for help in fervent prayer. At night, he saw a vision in which a huge rat attacked the inflamed area and ate it. The next morning the hand turned out to be completely healthy.
Saint Alexy Bortsurmansky
During a drunken brawl, a boy, the only son of his parents, was killed. For a week, the inconsolable parents did not dare to bury their son’s body, then they came to the church with the coffin. Tears filled the eyes of the elder, the singers and everyone present. Righteous Alexy prayed, standing with his back to the coffin.
A deafening scream made everyone look at the coffin where the boy was sitting, looking around in bewilderment. Those present fell to their knees, the priest thanked God for the resurrection, sent the parents and the baby home, and he himself asked to bring a chair, on which he sat until the end of the service, then could not get out of bed for 7 days. This happened 3 years before his death.
- The peasant woman Zinovia lived in the village of Lisya Polyana; for five years she could not get rid of pain in her leg and side. She visited the elder several times, finally recovered, started a family and lived into old age.
- Father Alexy left a peasant from the village of Ozhgibovka Alexei Shlyapkikov, crippled by illness, in his house for a week, telling his relatives after 7 days to come for his relative. Shlyapnikov was completely healed.
- Those possessed by demons were brought from all over to the righteous man. One incident was especially memorable for the residents of Bortsurman. The relatives of the giant, tied with huge chains, brought him and put him in the house for the night. At midnight, a loud noise brought everyone present to their feet; the demoniac tore the ropes and chains. Four strong men could barely hold him up.
In the morning Fr. Alexy asked to bring the sick man to the temple, put him on the floor, began to say prayers, after which the giant quietly left the church.
More about miracles:
- Miracles in Orthodoxy
- Miracles and help of the Mother of God
- Miracles of St. Nicholas in our days
The next morning, the priest called the sick man again, asked him to lie down on the floor, did not pray, but held the icon of the Mother of God “Smolensk” over the possessed man. After the blessing, the family returned home with a completely healthy brother and son.
last years of life
At the age of 70, the elder ceases to be involved in parish and family affairs, but still diligently attends the Liturgy and does not shorten the services.
Interesting! For the last nine years he has been living in a cell, filling the space around him with spiritual joy, his face literally glowing with holiness, illuminating the sinful world with light. A small stove, a rough bed, a table and a couple of chairs, a lectern, icons - this is the entire list of its furnishings.
According to the commandment of the Apostle Paul (1 Thess. 5:17), the priest constantly prayed and ate only Lenten food once a day. Dressed in a hair shirt in the last years of his life, he did not wash. During Great Lent, the holy righteous man did not take food at all for several days.
Satan did not like Alexy’s zeal for God so much that he began to plot intrigues. During prayers, an unprecedented force lifted the priest’s body above the ground and forcefully threw it to the floor. Demonic attacks did not allow the saint to fall into sleep even for a moment.
Alexy did not grumble, but prayed even more, and one day, tired of Satan’s trials, he asked God for death, and at that very moment he saw tears flow from the eyes of the Savior depicted in the icon. Until his last breath, the righteous saint Alexy Bortsurmansky prayed for people.
On April 21, 1848, he stood near the window of his cell and blessed the people standing in prayer, until his hand weakened and fell down for the last time.
The grave of St. Alexy in Bortsurmany
Buried near the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary in his native village, the priest became a place of worship and divine services. The soil taken from his grave had miraculous qualities. Nowadays there is a cross at the burial place of the righteous man.
Another miracle in Bortsurmany
Having barely waited for the next holiday, I began to get ready for a new long journey - to the city of Ulyanovsk, in the hope that in the Simbirsk archive I would find information about the Vigilyansky priests, whose fates still had many questions. I already dared to hope that on this path I would find myself under the wing of God, under intercession, under guidance, and I believed that the journey would not be fruitless.
In the Simbirsk archive, time again flowed differently - I called this movement “forward, into the past”: the deeper I plunged into the past, the closer I moved towards myself, towards something important in my life. A new joy awaited me: the clergy registers of the churches of the Kurmysh district for all the years of the 19th century had survived! Many believed that these documents were burned in a fire; In addition, due to the reorganization of provinces into regions and counties into districts, confusion arose, and it was completely unclear in which archive to look for precious information. But they were here, and I read them!
Clergy registers are handwritten books in which information about churches and clergy was entered. Leafing through them, you instantly find out everything - the years of the priest’s life, his place of birth and study, information about other churches where he served, his awards, property, complete family composition, dates of birth of household members and even the number of “instructions” - sermons that he delivered ! It was a treasure trove of information: I almost completely restored our family genealogy by date, found out the names of the wives and children of the priest-ancestors, traced side branches, even saw the handwritten signatures of my grandfathers - their handwriting, evidence of the living breath of the past. Fluent, oblique, fast - from the great-great-great-grandfather: “Priest Pavel Ivanov of Vigilyansky put his hand.” Slow, written with a trembling hand - news from 1838 from the holy righteous Alexy: “Priest Alexey Petrov Gneushev, priest of the Assumption Church ...” - a voice from afar, a meeting! And the imprint of a very recent, by the standards of history, era - the signature of my great-great-grandfather from the family album, from which my search began: a few months ago I was perplexed who he was, and now I peered into the illegible letters written by his hand, and marveled at the feeling of the door swinging open ...
Finally, the mysterious connection of our family branch with the “Vladimir” Vigilyanskys was explained: great-great-great-grandfather Pavel studied at the Vladimir Seminary and was a native of these lands, but after studying he was sent to the distant Simbirsk province, to Bortsurmany, where he married the saint’s granddaughter and became his successor in the Assumption Church. So the Vigilyanskys settled in the Kurmysh district for almost a century.
But the main thing is that I found out where Pavel Vigilyansky is buried. During Soviet times, the church cemetery was completely destroyed. Thanks to popular veneration, only one grave survived - “Father Alexei”: it turned out that, preserving the memory of the righteous wonderworker and caring for his grave, the village residents saved from ruin and preserved for us his holy relics, which later, after his glorification, were destined gain the Orthodox Church. But the rest of the burials, alas, were razed to the ground, and it has not yet been possible to resurrect their memory. Now, from archival documents, I knew that Father Paul bequeathed to bury himself behind the altar of the Assumption Church, to the left of the grave of St. Alexis. This story was preserved thanks to a sign that was revealed on the eve of the installation of Pavel Vigilyansky’s tombstone. A certain stove maker Gerasim Chudakov heard a voice that told him to erect a monument not close, but at some distance from the grave of Father Alexy, because the saint was destined to “come out with his relics” in the future, and the tombstone of his successor could be damaged.
So, I was entrusted with restoring the grave of my great-great-great-grandfather. Then I realized that I was obliged to take into my own hands another difficult and big matter - to try to win back the temple in which my great-great-grandfather Alexei Pavlovich served from the club in Kurmysh, and return it to the Church, and then think about its restoration.
I decided to return back through Bortsurmany: I could not help but take advantage of the opportunity to again fall before the relics of the saint and ask for his help in new matters. Hospitable Father Andrei, the rector of the church, sheltered me in his house for the night, and the next morning we went to service together: I again found myself on a holiday - it was the day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God. After the Liturgy, Father Andrei opened for me a shrine with the relics of the saint...
And then something happened to me that I decided to tell only my mom and dad - my experience was so intimate, deep, and otherworldly. I stood at the relics and did not know what words to pray: I clearly caught this feeling - the powerlessness of words, their inaccuracy and scarcity to express a whole tangle of my thoughts and feelings, from gratitude to a prayer that the saint would always be with me. And in a state of this verbal weakness, dumbness, I deliberately descended into my depths - to where words have not yet been born, where nothing is named, in order to speak with Saint Alexy directly from there, in order to convey my feeling as it is, in this original, newborn , unformed, undistorted form. And the saint answered me - I knew this, because something happened to my body. My tears flowed, they actually flowed - in such an endless and generous stream that my jacket, scarf and everything that was under them were thoroughly soaked on my chest. Now I’ll say a strange thing: I didn’t cry! It was not at all like ordinary crying, like what happens to us from an overabundance of feelings, from the severity of emotions, from heartfelt emotion. Tears flowed naturally - as a reaction to something alien, incomprehensible and unprecedented. Apparently, the body simply does not know other ways to respond, does not understand how to behave, how else it can express itself in this meeting with the incorporeal, immaterial, extraterrestrial... with what is probably called grace...
I was driving home with new evidence of a miracle, and I was again overcome by the already familiar double feeling: gratitude mixed with fear, with a keen awareness of my responsibility and duty, which calls for reciprocal steps on my part, for reckless service to God. I was afraid that I couldn't do it. On the way there were Vyazniki: this geographical name became symbolic for me, speaking, linking everything with everything - that zero point from where my new life began. Of course, I could not pass by Lev Valerianovich Vigilyansky, sent to me by the Lord Himself: now I already knew the answers to all the questions that we both asked ourselves in June, sitting in the kitchen. And here we are again sitting at the same table, but now together we are marveling at the wonderful finds.
And then winter came, and for many months I lived in anticipation of a new meeting: I missed the Bortsurmans and mentally returned to them. At the end of April, as soon as the snow melted, I finally took my youngest daughter Lisa there - I was lucky enough to find an empty house right opposite the temple: we woke up in the morning, looked out the window and did not believe our happiness.
While still in Moscow, I arranged a meeting with Vladyka Silouan, Bishop of the Lyskov diocese: new tasks required his blessing and participation. I knew that on May 4, Bishop Silouan would serve the festive Liturgy in Bortsurmany, and I hoped to catch him after the service. But on the very day of the holiday, it turned out that Vladyka had already allocated a whole hour in his schedule to talk with me at Father Andrei’s house, even before the start of the service. It was a great mercy. I told him all the details of finding my ancestors, showed him the family album - the same one that had recently raised so many questions and about which I now knew everything, shared my sadness about the fate of the Kurmysh temple, desecrated by club discos, told about the found grave of priest Pavel and about our desire to resurrect her. The attention and responsiveness of the Lord exceeded all my expectations. He supported me in all my endeavors, gave his blessing to all the necessary steps in returning my memory. And during the sermon after the Divine Liturgy, he repeated my story from the pulpit of the church to all its parishioners and guests and even introduced me as the heir of St. Alexius and a witness to his new miracles. I again felt the undeservedness of these honors and again understood that I was being given immeasurably more than what I dared to ask for. On the same day, Vladyka introduced me to the head of the Pilninsky self-government, and he promised me that in a matter of time, already this year, the temple in Kurmysh would return to its true purpose.
Posthumous miracles
A loving daughter, a rich merchant's wife, brought her frantic mother from afar to the elder, but was too late, the priest died. The woman cried bitterly that now no one would free her mother from demonic power. Leaving the sick woman with good people, the merchant's wife wandered to the holy grave, served a requiem there, cried alone, and poured out all her pain in front of the righteous man.
Upon returning to the house, she found her mother completely calm, she was having a reasonable conversation with the hostess, did not row, it seemed as if she had never gone berserk. So the villagers remembered what the priest’s words before his death meant: that he would never forget those who remembered him.
A serious illness shackled the peasant woman Anna from Ozhgibovka so that she could not move. The sufferer prayed silently, and one day, unconscious from pain, she saw the elders bending at her feet. The next morning the woman felt much better and decided to serve a memorial service at the grave of Father Alexy. Sometimes barely wandering, sometimes crawling, she reached Bortsurman, served a memorial service and quickly began to recover.
Anastasia from the same Ozhgibovka was only 10 years old when she fell ill with an unknown disease and could neither eat nor breathe freely. Her mother, Natalya Matyushina, turned to a local landowner for help, and she gave her a pinch of earth from the priest’s grave, told her to dilute it with water and drink it. The girl received immediate healing from the mixture she took. A boy from the same village was healed in the same way.
In 1893, a young widow came to Kurmysh, and with her a stunted girl of 4-5 years old. The baby was melting before our eyes, the doctors could not help, and Natalya Murzaneva decided to take her daughter to the grave of the righteous man. The little girl sat near the grave mound throughout the funeral service, after which she began to literally resurrect and gain strength.
Relics of Saint Alexy Bortsurmansky in the Assumption Church
The incident, which occurred in 1908, claimed several lives. An apprentice in a confectionery shop, in order to take revenge on his owner, added poison to the candy mixture, which killed people. Vera Pazukhina’s son also ate sweets and after a couple of hours began to stretch out and become cold. Fortunately, there was holy soil in the house; they mixed it with water, gave it to the child to drink, and thereby saved the boy’s life.
Local residents talk about the healing in 1911 of a girl who was lying down after measles, and the deliverance from bloody diarrhea of a soldier who served in distant Siberia, having healing soil with him.
Anastasia Kuzkina from Maidanov brought her poor and weak daughter Lyuba, who was 10 years old, to the grave of the righteous man; she had not walked since birth. This was the time immediately after the closure of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary by the Bolsheviks. The woman herself served a memorial service, after which her daughter was healed.
Kurmysh. Great-great-grandfather's temple
Having left Vyazniki, I, of course, immediately wrote about the amazing destinies that had revealed themselves to me, which reflected our entire bloody twentieth century, our common pain and guilt. And letters started pouring in. It turned out that, without finding answers to my questions, I accidentally, without even knowing it, found answers for others. Through me, people found their ancestors and found their history. Many, at my prompting, went to Vyazniki to see Lev Valerianovich and returned with answers.
This amazed me: a person, creating his own destiny, being an instrument in the hands of God, can miraculously turn out to be the creator of the destinies of other people, become a guide and mediator, a link in the general chain of Providence.
But a new discovery awaited me. One of the letters arrived from Cheboksary. A certain woman named Elena Okuneva convinced me that we were relatives: my great-great-grandfather, priest Alexy Vigilyansky from a photograph from a family album, is the brother of her great-great-grandmother; that they lived in the city of Kurmysh, Simbirsk province. It was enough for dad to hear just this name - Kurmysh - for him to exclaim: “Yes! We found it: it's them! The birthplace of my father, Nikolai Dmitrievich Vigilyansky, is the city of Kurmysh!” Elena Okuneva and I began to compare names and dates: she had been working on her genealogy for a long time and knew about Anna Petrovna Vigilyanskaya, my great-great-grandmother, about her daughter Olga, my great-grandmother, and could name the approximate years of their lives. Everything was coming together. There could be no coincidences: our ancestors have returned!
Then the details began to become clear: I learned the name of another Vigilyansky - priest Pavel, this was my grandfather with three “great-greats”, in the middle of the 19th century, he served, as Lena said, in the Assumption Church in the village of Bortsurmany in the same Kurmysh district. It was he who gave birth, in addition to the other six children, to my gray-haired great-great-grandfather Alexei from the album and great-great-grandmother Elena Okuneva, my fifth cousin.
In August 2016, that is, just a month and a half after the meeting in Vyazniki, I was already sitting in the car and rushing 600 kilometers from Moscow, to the Nizhny Novgorod region, to the lands of the former Simbirsk province, to places whose mysterious names I had never heard before , - to Kurmysh and Bortsurmany. My newfound sister Lena was driving towards me from Cheboksary. I arrived a day earlier, on August 16, there was still a day before the scheduled meeting with Lena in the village of Bortsurmany, so I first went to Kurmysh in the hope of finding the temple of my great-great-grandfather Alexy, consecrated, as I managed to find out, in honor of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
…I got out of the car and looked for a long time at what was left of my great-great-grandfather’s church. She walked in circles, touched the brick walls, and joy gave way to pain - right in the altar apse there was a door cut down, above which there was a sign: “Kurmysh House of Culture.” Soon young people began to gather, and exciting disco music was heard from the temple...
And something aching was rising from within: somewhere here was their house, my great-great-grandmother Anna, plump, with a restive character, active, cheerful - I know her from a photograph - was busy here with housework. The bells were ringing for matins, my great-great-grandfather was hurrying to the service...
And we all come from here - despite everything that separates us in time and space - despite the 600 kilometers of road, the crazy twentieth century and this current disco hell...
